A Prelude to Eternal Sunrise
by Choices HP
Summary: This is what happened after the Cullens had finished reading the books but before the events of Eternal Sunrise.
1. Author and Discussions

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or any of the characters.**

 **A/N: For those of you that have read my reading the book series you might recall that there were a four chapters at the end of the last story that was my work. When I first thought of re-posting Eternal Sunrise I had decided that I didn't want to start with these chapters, as I wanted it to start off as it was supposed to with Edward and Bella meeting. I considered added these chapters on as outtakes but that didn't feel right either. So I decided to post these chapters a separate story.**

 **Thanks to Sunray16 and Angelinia who beta this story.**

Chapter Forty

Author and Discussions

"The End,"Esme read and then put the book down.

"It almost makes me sad that it's over," Emmett said.

"It's not really over," Edward said. "There is so much to do now."

"I know... but it's still so long before she gets here," Emmett pouted. "I mean, there's still twenty-four days left."

"I know, Em," Edward said. "Trust me, I know..."

"Do we really have to wait that long?" Emmett questioned. "We could think of some reason to go to Phoenix..."

"No... I think it's best that she comes here first," Edward said.

"Is there anything else in the book?" Emmett asked. "So we can do something while we wait for Bella to come?"

"You make it sound like we don't have a life without her," Rosalie said, rolling her eyes. "I mean, we all know that Edward doesn't now, but the rest of us have other things to do."

"Oh, come on," Emmett huffed. "You know you want this all to get started – now that you know what's going to happen... or at least what could happen."

"True," Rosalie admitted, so she picked up the book and opened it up.

"I think I have something for us to do... and I think you might be particularly interesting in this, Em," Edward said, his tone was suddenly dark and it got everyone looking at him. Everyone that is, except for Rosalie.

"Hey, there is something in here that is interesting," Rosalie said, not paying attention to her brother's tone. "There's a note addressed to us... it's from whoever it was that sent these books to us..."

"Really?" Carlisle asked, not liking Edward's tone at all, and would much rather hear what Rosalie had to say. "What does it say?"

"It says..." Rosalie started.

"What do you mean, Edward?" Emmett asked. He looked confused and excited at the same time.

"I think Rose should read first," Edward said and then looked at Rosalie patiently, as Emmett crossed his arms, pouting.

"Well, are you going to read or not?" Emmett huffed when his wife made no appearance of doing anything.

She smiled at him, prolonging his torture a little longer, before reading the letter that was in the book:

 _Dear Cullen Family,_

 _You don't know who I am and I don't know if you are real or just a creation of my imagination_

"Hmph," Emmett said. "That's a rather rude thing to say...we're real!"

Rosalie rolled her eyes before she started reading again.

… _but I have just spent the last two months writing this story (all four books that is) in a daze, so a large part of me believes that you must be real._

"See, Em... she thinks we're real, are you happy now?" Alice chuckled.

"Yeah, that's much better," Emmett said. "But now I'm wondering what this person is talking about..."

"So am I," Carlisle said. "I would gather from the opening that this person is a mortal, because why else would they think that we wouldn't be real. However, it says that it only took the person two months to write all these books... that does not seem possible. Rose, please keep reading."

 _It's odd, I feel like I even know how you would react to this, wondering if I'm a mortal and how I could have written this book in such a short period of time._

"This person is good," Emmett chuckled.

 _As an answer to the first question, yes I am a mortal and before two months ago I never would have imagined a world like yours could have possibly existed. Now, I'm not so sure. I suddenly find myself believing that things like this could not only be possible, but probable... that there really is magic in this world. The main reason I believe this, though, has to do with the second question I thought you might be thinking. For I must admit, I'm not sure if I really wrote these books at all or if I was merely the tool that was used to put these words to paper._

 _As I said before, I wrote this in a daze, or at least that's the best way I can describe it. It seemed as though I was unaware of what I was doing... like I was sleep-typing, as strange as that sounds. An urge to type would come over me and the next thing I knew, I was staring at a screen that had a chapter or two worth of words on it. And what's more, it was grammatically correct and there were no spelling errors... I don't think I've ever written anything without making a mistake somewhere down the line before this. No, there are too many weird things at play here for me to believe that I just made up this story._

 _I'm not looking for anything but a little peace of mind. I want to know that you're real... for if you're not, I think I just might have gone crazy. Either that, or I'm a literary genius and it's a blessing that I'm able to write this so easily (something any writer would kill for, I'm sure). Please, give me some sign that you are real, I don't care how small it is. I think I just might like to have these books published because I'm sure that they would be popular. (Though I'm deathly afraid of what would happen to me if this turns out to be real and I publish this... somehow I don't think I would be around long enough to see how well they do)._

 _Thanks for your time,_

 _Stephenie Meyer_

"Wow," Emmett said, as Rosalie read the address which was left there, so they could contact this person.

"You said it," Carlisle said. "That's a rather unique talent."

"Hmph," Alice huffed.

"She certainly seems to have a very clear and complete view of our future," Edward said in his normal tone, though of course, he was trying to tease Alice a little.

"It's only for a short time," Alice huffed at that.

"And yet so much happens in that time," Emmett said, teasing Alice too. "It really is a rather impressive gift...and to think, she's is only a mortal."

"We really should send her word that we are indeed real," Esme said before Edward could tease Alice any more. "And show our gratitude for what she has done for us."

"Yes, I quite agree with that," Alice said. "Don't worry; I'll take care of it."

"Do you really think it's okay for us to confirm that this is all real?" Rosalie asked. "You've seen what happens to mortals who know too much."

"She already knows too much," Alice shrugged, and her eyes went blank as she made up her mind to not let Stephenie know that they were real. Sure enough, in a year's time, _Twilight_ would have been released, and it would have caused them a lot of trouble in the small town of Forks. "And it will be a lot more dangerous for everyone if we don't tell her that it's real."

"She's right, Rosalie," Edward said, frowning at what Alice had just seen. "We don't have much of a choice. Besides, I agree with Esme, we owe this person a lot."

"Whatever," Rosalie said. "Just don't ask me to do anything about this."

"I said that I was going to handle it," Alice said.

"Okay, now that that's all settled, what was it you were going to say before, Eddy?" Emmett said again, impatient to know what Edward was thinking.

"Well, there's something that I have been thinking about from time to time while we were reading, and it's something that I think needs to be dealt with," Edward said. "You've thought of it a few times yourself, Jazz."

At that, Jasper raised an eyebrow and looked more intrigued than he had before. He also looked like he had a much better idea of what Edward was going to say next.

"Enough with the round-about speech just tell us what it is already," Emmett groaned impatiently.

"It's about _James's_ coven," Edward said, hissing as he said the name.

Carlisle's expression turned grim as he asked, "What about them?"

"Most of the danger that is coming for our family is because of them," Edward said, already thinking of the best way to answer this question for he knew that Carlisle would ask it whenever he chose to bring this up.

"That is true," Carlisle said softly, his tone was grave when he continued to speak. "However, I somehow doubt that you are mentioning this so that we could just warn them against coming here... or make sure that they didn't get too close to Bella."

"No, I think any warning we give them might entice James as it did in _Twilight_ ," Edward said. He kept his voice even, but his eyes showed all the anger he felt about that. "Besides, if he gets near us, I don't..."

"I would not be able to control myself," Jasper finished for Edward, his voice too was even, he was just stating a fact. He made no effort to control the anger that was flowing off him and how determined he was to make good on his threat.

"I see," Carlisle sighed. Being affected by the wave of anger, he raised an eyebrow at Jasper and it stopped. Jasper had agreed long ago to never try to sway a family meeting with his gift; at least as much as he could help it.

"And I agree with Edward. They pose too much of a threat to our family, especially to Bella," Jasper said. He didn't add that most of his anger was due to what happened with Alice, but everyone knew that already.

"They have not done anything yet and it's not right to condemn them before they have done anything wrong," Carlisle argued, trying to instill reason into them, though he knew it wouldn't work. He could see that all three of his sons were already edger to hunt down the nomads who had wreaked great tragedy on his family in these books. The hardest thing for him was that he could understand their point of view and he hated the real threat the nomads represented – but at the same time, this wasn't something that he would ever agree with.

"What about what happened to me?" Alice asked, drawing everyone's attention, but Carlisle was who she was looking at. Her voice was hard to read and her thoughts were nearly as clouded. "From all that I've heard about my human life, I'm happy that I was turned. I don't like thinking about being forced to stay in an asylum –" Esme sighed and Jasper's eyes looked forlorn. "– and I've had a much better life as a vampire.

"But what about the vampire who turned me?" Alice continued. "The one who James implied had a fascination with humans... perhaps he was even like us... like you, Carlisle. Either way he saved me, and James killed him for that, just because he put a stop to his game." Alice's voice was now angry and the more she thought about it, the angrier she became. She would have liked to have known the vampire who turned her. "Not to mention, he left me alone..."

Jasper tensed at that as Alice trailed off again. She reached out to grab his hand. Alice's mind and voice weren't conflicted any more. She was now just as angry as her husband and brothers. "And I will not stand for him getting anywhere near Bella."

"You have all already made up your minds," Carlisle sighed, for he saw that Rosalie agreed too, though not as vocally or as extremely as the others. There was no way that anyone could have talked Emmett out of a fight like this, though Carlisle had a feeling that this time it was more than just the thought of a fight that he was feeling. Emmett had always been protective of everything he cared about. Even as Carlisle looked at his wife, he could see in her eyes a look which clearly said that she didn't like this, but at the same time, looked as all the others did.

"Yes," Edward answered for everyone, thought he knew he didn't really need to.

"This is a grave thing that you speak of," Carlisle sighed, "I must ask if all of the coven must be...?"

"Victoria will go to any lengths to avenge James' death," Edward said.

Carlisle sighed and bowed his head. This, of course, was true. In many ways, Victoria might even be a bigger threat to them... she certainly was in these books. "And Laurent?"

This question had various reactions from the people in the room.

"I don't think it's wise to leave any of them alive," Edward said, his jaw set and his voice firm, but he could see that this time, it wasn't going to be as easy to get what he wanted.

"I agree," Jasper said immediately. He didn't like the idea of this vampire that they didn't know having the chance to make trouble for them at some later date.

Emmett's grin fell from his face and he sat down, looking a little annoyed, but he didn't say anything. He knew that if they were not going to fight this Laurent guy, then he would have less of a chance to fight himself. However, he understood that this wasn't a very good reason to condemn someone, so he was going to let the others decide.

"But he could be Irina's mate," Esme said softly, flinching as she thought of all that happened.

"And that could bring a terrible fate down on all of us," Edward snapped. "You know what happened to her in the book because of him."

"I can see that she cared deeply for him," Esme retorted, cringing at Edward's words – which, in turn, made Edward cringe a little himself. "The things which were done... as regrettable as they were, showed that she had to care about him…"

"He didn't seem to care about her, though," Jasper countered. "He just left her to do what Victoria asked..."

"Victoria didn't really come across as someone you could say 'no' to," Carlisle pointed out. "And we all saw how determined she could be if she put her mind to it. I'm not sure how much of a choice Laurent had..."

"He didn't seem to have been forced to go back to Forks," Edward growled.

"No, but even if he was, he wouldn't have acted that way," Carlisle said. "But Laurent would know better than anyone just how dangerous Victoria could be after however long it was that they had known each other. He probably wouldn't pose a threat to us if... if he didn't have outside influences." He said the last part gravely and was saddened that he had nothing he could say to save the others. Still, he wasn't going to let this same fate befall Laurent, too, if he could help it.

"Think about this, Edward, if he really is Irina's mate and you kill him... it would be the same as if you were never able to meet Bella," Esme said. "You were happy enough before, but you can't ever be truly happy until you meet her," she smiled there and said in a softer voice as she smiled at him. "You didn't even have to meet her. Just hearing about her has changed you so much... made you come alive.

"Do you really want to stop Irina from having that –" Esme asked, pleading again, " – from having a chance to be truly happy?"

"When you say it like that, it's hard to argue with you," Edward sighed. Indeed his resolve on this matter was wavering. "And yet, I still don't like the idea of leaving him alive."

"But is it really your, or I should say our, choice to decide who lives or dies?" Carlisle asked.

Edward stared at Carlisle, thinking about his earlier days when he had hunted humans, and how killing even those monsters had weighed down heavily on him. Still, he gave Carlisle the best answer he could. "Then, I'll make it his choice. I'll let Laurent decide if he wants to side with the others or if he wants to find happiness with a mate. It's the best I can do."

"I understand," Carlisle said and Esme smiled. She seemed to think that there was only one choice that Laurent would make. "When are we leaving...?"

"We... as in me, Jasper, and Emmett," Edward said pointedly and heard Alice growl at him in her thoughts. "... and Alice too… are going to leave as soon as possible."

"You don't want us all to come?" Carlisle said.

"No," Edward said. He didn't want to put Carlisle through any more pain than he knew he was already causing him.

Carlisle nodded at him, unsure if it was better that he went or didn't. Sitting at home didn't exactly feel right to him, but he wasn't going to argue.

"So, I'm not allowed to come," Rosalie said, narrowing her eyes. She didn't like the thought of not being near Emmett and she wasn't opposed to helping out either.

"Jasper thinks it would be better if we have smaller numbers – that way, they won't be too afraid of meeting us," Edward said.

"Don't blame me," Jasper hissed, as he felt Rosalie's anger directed at both of them.

"But James likes a challenge," Rosalie hissed. "I'm sure he'll love being outnumbered like this."

"Yes, but Victoria might sense our intent and the fact that we pose a real danger to them and will try to avoid us," Edward replied. "Again, this is what Jasper thinks..."

Jasper and Rosalie growled in answer to that, though for different reasons of course.

"You had better not be gone too long," Rosalie snapped at Edward, but then looked at Emmett, sadly.

"Don't worry Babe, we'll be back before you know it," Emmett said, winking at her. "Besides, you can occupy your time by thinking about the little nudger and how you're going to spoil her when you get to meet her."

"Hm... I like that idea," Rosalie had to admit with a smile. "But still, hurry back."

Emmett wrapped his arms around her, and even though he was excited for the coming fight – hoping that Laurent would put up some kind of struggle, whatever his choice might be – he still didn't like the thought of leaving Rosalie behind. Even for this short amount of time, it was painful to think of. But this was something that had to be done to protect his family, so he would just have to endure.

 **A/N: Okay, first thing I have to say is that I don't know anything about Stephenie Meyer (in fact I made her letter sound mostly like myself) but I was told (and rightly so I think) that she was the only one that could have written these books so I had to use her as the author. Second, I'm not sure if everything here worked out exactly how I had envisioned this, especially the second part were they discussed going after the nomads, but it's what I came up with. And thirdly, I just want to say that it's a lot easier for me to come up with commentary for what the characters are going to say and I'm sure how good the version of things is going to be. I think I have a pretty good understanding of the characters from doing these four books, but it's still going to be harder for me to make things up. Anyways, like I said at the end of the last chapter, I'm not going to be updating this for a week, but Midnight Sun should be up soon.**


	2. The Hunt and Fight

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or any of the characters.**

 **A/N: Thanks to Sunray16 and Angelinia who beta this story.**

Chapter Forty one

The Hunt and Fight

Before they did anything at all, Edward and Alice left the house to go hunting, seeing as they hadn't done that in over two weeks. While they were gone Jasper prepared for their trip, mostly by planning what he was going to do to James when they met. He has a feeling that he going to be a challenging opponent, seeing what little Jasper knew about him was that he loved challenges. Emmett was spending his time with Rosalie right now, knowing that it wasn't going to make it any less difficult when he left, but that at that moment he wanted nothing more than to be with his wife.

It was only two hours after they had finishing reading the books that Edward, Alice, Jasper and Emmett were leaving the house in the pursuit for the nomads. Esme tried to make them wait for the morning, not liking that they were all leaving so soon, and they might have done that however Alice had got a vision (she was watching out for any decision that James would make) and found that the nomads were in a small town in Southern California and were heading North. After hearing where they were, neither Edward nor Jasper could wait another second so they booked a flight to San Diego which was leaving from Seattle within the hour.

"So what's the plan?" Emmett asked in a whisper that only a vampire could hear.

"We're going to hunt the nomads..." Jasper started.

"I mean... who gets who... or is this going be to a team effort," Emmett said, making a face at the second choice, as if he would want to fight with the others to defeat his opponent.

"I'm going to fight James alone," Jasper said his expression was dark and rage he was emulating was very infectious.

Edward expression darkened too; there was a large part of him that wanted to be the one to deal with James. He had hated everything that James had done to Bella in Twilight, but he knew that his brother had the better claim here and he really did want to kill Victoria just as much as he did James and he couldn't do both things. "Of course, bu..."

"And what about me Jazz... am I suppose to just watch?" Alice asked raising an eyebrow.

"Er... yeah," Jasper smiled at her and she rolled her eyes. "You know I can't let you go near any danger... I'm sorry, but it's just not something I can stand."

Alice narrowed her eyes.

"I know you can handle it..." Jasper added quickly, and it was true. He knew that she was quick and capable, that wasn't the problem. What was the problem was that he couldn't handle it if something were to happen to her. He wouldn't be anything without her and he knew it, so he was an overprotecting fool when it came to her. But seeing her glare at him he sighed, "I'll try."

"That's better," Alice smiled at him, knowing that was the best answer she was going to get. She wasn't even sure what she was going to be feeling when she met James... if she would really want to fight him or not, but she didn't want Jasper to stop her if she did.

Edward, knowing that this decision was over for the time being, went on like Alice had never interrupted. He hadn't changed what he was about to say in the least. "Victoria is mine."

"Which means Laurent is mine," Emmett smiled, but it was marred by the fact that he wasn't sure if he was going to be able to fight him or not. "How are we going to deal with him... I mean you promised Carlisle that you were going to give him the choice..."

"He is a problem... especially if he chooses to find his mate," Jasper said. "He's going to be a very big risk if he lives."

"But we have to give him the choice," Edward said, reading in Jasper mind that he thought that was a bad idea. "I promised Carlisle I would."

"I know," Jasper grimaced; that wasn't a promise any of them would take lightly. "But Laurent seems like such a loose cannon... doing whatever he think is best to survive. I really don't think I could ever trust this guy."

"No... I'm not sure I could either," Edward agreed.

"So... what are we going to do about this?" Emmett asked again.

"Well, the first thing we have to make clear is why we are there," Jasper said after a moment of thought. "It's because of Alice... and only Alice!"

"You don't want him to have any clue that we know what's coming in the future," Edward said, "anything about Bella."

"That's right," Jasper said. "It wouldn't do for anyone to know about this... especially while Bella is still human (and even more so now when we aren't even near her to protect her). It shouldn't be all that difficult to keep this secret seeing as we have Alice (he smiled at his wife proudly at that thought) and she could be the reason for any slips that might occur in the future, but right now that's not really important."

"We need to think of a convincing reason to give Laurent the choice," Edward said.

"And a reason for him to go to Denali," Jasper added. "I don't like the idea of having him that close to our family, but he would be a lot more dangerous to us if we just let him wander around by himself."

Edward saw what Jasper saw as the worst case scenario and he had to agree that that wasn't something that any of them wanted. The rest of the flight they all thought about this, though Emmett's were more consumed by the fight he was really hoping he would get, than trying to figure a way that they were supposed to look like they just wanted revenge for what happened to Alice.

As they landed Alice's eyes went blank again and she could see that the nomads were moving on to their next hunting grounds... which was quicker than she had anticipation at first.

"They're on the move... let's hurry," Alice said in a quiet voice, but none of them were able to do anything yet. This was the most annoying part of travelling by plane... they had to wait for all the other people to get off before them (and since they booked the flight so late they were in the very back of the plane). It was fifteen minutes later that they started off, heading North-East towards Arizona which only made everyone run faster, especially Edward. He didn't like the idea of James being in the same state as Bella. Jasper advised them to take the more roundabout way, going more east and then heading up to cut them off. He has nagging feeling that the other vampires might realize that they were being chased, thinking about Victoria and her gift.

Edward was not sure he liked this strategy, because the fastest way to get to the vampires was to run straight towards them, but he felt it was worth a try to see if they would avoid them or not. Right when Edward was about to suggest that they started heading straight for them, Alice had another vision, showing that they had indeed started headed north again, it now looked like they were going to Vegas instead of somewhere in Arizona.

"Well the good news it they're not going to run across Bella," Emmett said when he heard their vision.

"The bad news is they really do know that someone is threatening them and they have a considerable head start on us," Jasper sighed, they were running again, this time going the quickest way they could to the nomads, but they were hours behind and they weren't making much progress on them.

"I'm sure James won't run from us forever... he has too much pride for that," Edward said.

"You're probably right," Jasper agreed. "But seeing as he is running now, that could only mean that he's trying to lead us somewhere... Somewhere that he's going to have the advantage."

Edward grimaces, "That can't be helped now."

"Right," Jasper frowned too, thinking over what their next step should be as they ran towards the confrontation.

"Do you think that will work?" Edward questioned after half an hour of running. He was listening mostly to all of Jasper musing as they ran, closing the distances between the nomads slowly. They didn't need Alice's visions anymore; they had come across the scent and could tell they were heading the right way. Though there was the time that the nomads had crossed a river, but Alice had seen the diversion as they had decided that was the course they were going to take and it didn't slow them down for one second. Jasper eyes shifted to him, and they looked frustrated and Edward could understand why, but still he wasn't the one that had thought of this.

"Maybe," Jasper said stiffly, "but I don't think it's a good idea..."

"Jazz, I know you have reservations about this," Edward said. "But it might be the best way..."

"What are you two talking about?" Emmett said in front of them where Alice was running next to him. Due to his bulk he wasn't quite as fast as his brothers so he was in front running his fastest and the others set their pace to his.

"Jasper thinks that it might put them off their guards if he and Alice go alone at first," Edward said.

"Edward," Jasper said in a warning voice, he didn't like the fact that they would be outnumbered... no that wasn't it… he didn't like that Alice would be there and they would be outnumbered.

"We would be right behind you... within my hearing distance," Edward said pointing needlessly to his head. When he saw Jasper grimace he added, "Emmett could go with you..."

Alice hissed at that and Emmett grinned.

"No, that wouldn't work," Jasper sighed. "It would have to be me and Alice... it's the only way that we would be able to distract them... I'm sure he'll have lots to say to her."

"Well, this sounds like a good plan to me," Alice said, giving Jasper a pointed look.

"Fine... if they ever stop, we'll try it," Jasper sighed.

Almost as soon as he said the words Alice had another vision of her and Jasper approaching the nomads in a short time. They were just outside the borders of California, in a field that was far enough from humans so that when they fought, no one would hear where they were.

"How soon will we get there?" Edward questioned.

"I think in about an hour," Alice said, _I can't see what they are planning on doing when we get there_ , she thought to Edward, _but I'm pretty sure they are expecting a fight... don't stay too far from us._

Edward didn't respond to that in any way, but Alice knew that he was going to follow her advice.

"Come on Jazz," Alice said and the two of them sped ahead of the others.

Edward and Emmett watched them go, running at half speed for a while as they reached the borders of his ability before they picked up their pace again.

"I wish I had gotten to go," Emmett grumbled, but Edward could hear the concern in his voice and thoughts... he was worried about Jasper and Alice and he had wished that he was the one to have gone.

"Yeah, me too," Edward said slowing again as he listen more intensely to Jasper and Alice's thoughts, knowing they were getting close to the others by the cautious tone of both of their thoughts. He held out his hand to stop Emmett as he heard the other vampires' thoughts... the cocky tone in James thoughts as he surveyed Jasper and Alice, how he was excited to see Alice again and the fact that she had brought such a dangerous looking vampire with her. He thought that Jasper would prove to be a good challenge to him and he had already made his comrades agree to let him handle this alone.

Then there were Victoria's thoughts, she was telling herself that she trusted James judgment, that they could handle this, but at the same time she had a feeling that this wasn't going to end well for them. She was unnerved by the fact that the feeling didn't go away when she noticed that they had outnumbered their pursuers and she was mindful that there was more to this than what appeared to her. Edward would have worried about this, but it seemed as the time being that her confidence in James was overpowering her instinct to run away.

Laurent thoughts were wary but like Victoria, he was confident in James's ability. He didn't like the looks of Jasper... he seemed to be a formidable opponent, but at the same time he had seen James do things that seemed impossible; he wasn't going to get defeated. Then he noticed their eyes... _they were topaz? How could that be? I've never seen anything like that before! I wonder if I could get to ask them about it before..._ Laurent thought, but looked at James again. _No I'm not going to get to ask anything. James never stops to look at things like this..._ Edward thought he detected a sour note to this thought, but he didn't give it much thought of his own at the moment. He needed to concentrate on his families' safety first.

"What's happening?" Emmett asked, not looking at Edward, no he was facing where he knew the others were and looked like he was ready to break off in a run the second that they needed too.

"The others are watching Jasper and Alice go into the clearing," Edward said. "They're confident that they don't have to worry about anything... though Victoria is a little wary of something going wrong..."

"Well she has a point there, doesn't she?" Emmett smiled smugly.

"Yes," Edward agreed distantly, as most of his mind was on the others. "Laurent is confident that there is no way that James could lose but he is curious... he noticed our eyes... I suppose if we're going to give him any options... it would have to do with something like that..."

"Right," Emmett thought.

"In this case Em, I think you're going to have to fight him," Edward said. "There is no way that he would just stand aside now because he would feel that his life is threatened as soon as we show up..."

"Then how are we going to give him any kind of choice?" Emmett asked.

"That's up to you," Edward said shrugging. "I'm going to have my hands full with Victoria... just try to appeal to his curiosity, but remember not to mention Bella or that would make him too curious..."

"Okay," Emmett said, he was smiling now, knowing that he was going to get to fight, but it would be hard to convince someone that you're fighting to listen to you.

"I have confidence that you can do it," Edward said, though most of him was hoping that Emmett would have to kill him in the end, make a clean break of things. "Now be quite... they're about to talk"

James was smiling at them as they approached, his excitement was masked on his face but of course Jasper could feel it and he knew that it was due in part to seeing Alice again and in part to the challenge he saw before him.

"Hello," James said, he had no need of Laurent playing the leader today; he was too impatient for that.

"James," Alice said in a cold voice.

"Hm... I didn't think you would remember me," James said, soundly pleased that she had.

"I don't," Alice said with a shrugged.

"Then you two have been pursuing us throughout California because..?" James raised an eyebrow, as he gave them a pleasant smile. _Pursuing us with deadly intent,_ he added in his head, it was the only reason why Victoria would have warned them that they were in danger.

Alice shrugged. "I've been looking into how I was turned and it became obvious that you held the key to that answer."

"So you came all this way to meet me," James said giving her a gentle smile and shifting his glaze to Jasper.

"Oh... this is my mate Jasper," Alice said.

James nodded his head towards Jasper and he smiled when he saw the dark look in Jasper's eye, sure of the fight that was going to be coming soon. "This is my mate Victoria and our friend Laurent."

Alice bowed her head, she really did want to get some answer out of James about her past if she could, so she played along with the game, but Jasper just stared at him.

"I was wondering what you could tell me," Alice asked, outright, "about the man that turned me."

James eyes tightened for a second, he never liked thinking about this particular hunt because of how she had gotten away. However, his smile returned quickly enough and as he looked at the two vampires before him he thought that this might just have been worth it. No, not worth it, that blood was sure to have been sweeter than anything he had tasted, but still, it wasn't a total loss.

"He was... odd," James said. "He had quite the fascination with humans... working alongside them if you would believe. Though, something tells me that you might believe that easily. I see the similarities in your eyes... though they're not quite the same..."

Alice eyes widened, showing the surprise she knew that James had wanted. She had already thought this might have been the case and yet this was actually really surprising to her. Jasper's expression didn't change at all; he was hardly listening to what was being said as he kept his eyes on the vampires, wary of every moment that they made.

He noticed that Laurent had cocked his head to the side at this announcement and he was... curious about the meaning to this, but Jasper spared no time thinking about that. Victoria was looking more worried the longer they talked and he didn't like that one bit.

"What do you mean?" Alice asked, her voice the perfect blend of surprise and curiosity, the look on her face the same. Jasper allowed himself to smile inwardly at her acting skills.

"His eyes weren't quite so... golden as yours," James said looking like he was searching for the right words, with the outwards appearance that he was just have a causal conversations, but Jasper could feel his tension... the longing he was feeling. It appeared that James was quite the actor too. "His were more an amber color. I've always wonder what had happened to cause the change in them..."

"We don't hunt humans," Alice said in an even tone, though she could see in James expression that he had already come to this conclusion long ago.

"Really? Then how do you survive?" Laurent asked the question before he could stop himself and James gave him a look that seemed friendly to all observers but was rather frightening for Laurent. He didn't show any emotions to betray how he felt at the moment, but Jasper could feel the fear that was coming of Laurent now.

"On animal blood," Alice said simply, and the three nomads made a face at that. "It's not much of a meal, but there are things that we get from this that makes it all worth it," she added and seeing Laurent's glance on her she continued. "Like we don't have to constantly move... we can live in a town for many years without raising any suspicion."

"Still, I don't think I would ever be able to give up the hunt," James said. "No matter how nice the trade off is."

Alice eyes narrowed at the mention of that and how James was looking at her now... like he was remembering what it was like going after her. Which indeed was what he was thinking about and it was clear that the talking was done with, so that was when Edward started running towards the others, with Emmett close on his heels.

Several things happened at that moment. First James smiled at her and said, "You certainly did smell lovely." This caused Jasper to growl loudly as he and James both lowered into a crouch. Alice then got conflicting visions of Victoria running form the fight or her facing Edward. The longer she stayed hesitant the hard it was to see her running away... she was being closely pursued by Edward until that vision disappeared altogether... she was going to have to fight now. Laurent did not react at all... he seemed to not have realized the danger that he was in and the choice that he was going to have to make.

"I thought there must have been more of you," James said as Edward appeared in the clearing, it was the only explanation for Victoria's panic about leaving. However, he didn't pay any more attention to them as he and Jasper circled each other, looking for weakness in the other and both realizing that the other was a capable fighter.

James was the first to make his move. He saw Jasper's vigilant eyes waver for a second as he shifted his glaze to look at Alice, who was near them... to close for his liking. James attacked the instant that Jasper concentration flickered and was right before Jasper before he had time to react. Even with that advantage though, Jasper was still able to raise his guard in time so James sunk his teeth into Jasper's arm not the throat like he was going for. Jasper made to punch James away, but the nomad was already moving, so his blow hit nothing but air.

"Hm... I expected more from someone who was as scarred as you are," James said cockily, celebrating his little victory. "I assumed you've been in a fight or two... or are those just love bites..."

Jasper hissed at that, but he could feel James's game here, he was trying to make him act rash and he wasn't going to do that. He was thankful still, when he felt Alice back away from them... he was going to have to apologize for this to her later (he could feel the hatred burning in her as she watched James), but for now he was just grateful that she understood that he needed to do this alone... without having to worry about her.

"I wouldn't mind getting a bite from her," James continued, looking towards Alice. "And I definitely owe her one..."

Jasper lunged at James at this point, a move that James was excepting so he was prepared for the frontal assault, but of course Jasper wasn't going to do what was expected. He feinted with a quick burst of speed, seemingly straight at James, but moved to his left when James turned towards him, missing the nomad's hands by inches as they tried to grab him. As Jasper ran around to the back of James, he grabbed an arm and with a quick kick at the body, it snapped off.

"That wasn't so difficult," Jasper said as James at first sailed through the air from the force of the kick, but regained his balance before he crashed to the floor, so that he landed on his feet. Jasper threw the arm to Alice, who caught it and immediately started a fire. "I hope you didn't want that arm."

James's face contorted and there was nothing human in his face anymore, he looked like the monster that he was. "You will pay for that... you and your b..."

He didn't get to say any more for Jasper was on him again, in a rage that meant ill for anyone that was unfortunate enough to fight him. The fight ensued for a long time and despite the loss of an arm, James was still managing to get his fair share of blows in. Still, though they were trading off blows, there was a definite difference in the impact they had and Jasper was hardly hurt, where as James was barely able to stand.

"It looks like this is not the fight you were looking for," Jasper said.

"I won't say that," James said, a smile full of so many emotions that it would have been hard for Jasper to read the difference if he was inclined to do so. "If you constantly look for a fight, you have to assume that one day you would find one that is... perhaps too much for you... Though I'm not sure if that's the case here yet, but I think we're about to find out."

And with that James attacked again in one last desperate attempt to win this fight. It was desperate... but it wasn't thoughtless... he wasn't going to make this easy. James was constantly moving, from one side to the next, backwards and forwards; getting right next to Jasper and then retreating before Jasper could make a move. Jasper watched him closely, moving around himself, but it was clear that James was setting the pace and was the one in control at the moment. It was an interesting attack, for if Jasper made a move to go after James it would only have left him open for an assault if he should miss. However, James was still in a position where he could attack Jasper outright and Jasper would have little time to react to that.

The problem with this tactic, James found to his expense, was that with his ability Jasper was one of the worst opponents to use it on. Jasper could feel the excitement rise in James when he came at him and he knew that this was no feint, it was a real attack. His movements were so quick that even vampires would have trouble following him (Edward might be the fastest but Jasper was no slouch when it came to quickness... something that had kept him alive) and the next thing anyone could see was James's body falling to the ground, the head a few feet from him.

Jasper made quick work to pick up the pieces and throw them into the fire that had nearly burned out now, but came back to life as soon as the vampire chunks hit the flames.

O

 _It was such a shame that she was locked in that building, I would have been able to have her in a second if she hadn't been surrounded by all those people... but still that smell,_ Edward could hear James think, as the vision of James stalking after the smell that he had come across on his way through some nameless (to him) town. It was so intoxicating, the smell that he had to have. Edward pulled himself out of James head, not liking his thoughts about Alice (or the image of himself reacting to Bella's scent when she came... something that he was very worried about indeed). He didn't get the sign from Jasper or Alice that they wanted him to come, but James' thoughts were clear and this was the time to make his move. He didn't even bother to say anything to Emmett, as soon as he made a step his brother was running after him.

Then he saw the flicking visions Alice was having about Victoria wavering between leaving or staying to help. He could hear her thoughts, she knew that they were in danger... more danger than they had ever been in, but she couldn't leave James... and he wasn't going to leave the fight. She couldn't stay and couldn't leave. Still, Edward didn't want her flight reflexes to win so he picked up his pace... pushing himself past his normal restraints so he would get there in time.

"I thought there would have been more of you," James said, his eyes glued on Jasper and Edward didn't even spare him a glance. His eyes were on the wild looking woman, her eyes looking back into his and he didn't see her hesitation anymore.

 _There's no use to think about escape anymore, I'm just going to have to handle this guy_ , Victoria thought, her mind resolved to defeat him.

"You could try, but I'm not going to make it easy on you," Edward said in a soothing voice.

Victoria's eyes widened and her mind buzzed as she wondered what this guy was talking about... how it was that he seemed to be answering her thoughts.

Edward didn't hesitate for a second, he attacked her with as much speed and force as he could, but she moved almost as quickly and dodged him like it was easy. Edward didn't expect this... the dodge was nowhere in her mind, it seemed like she let her instincts take over in that moment and she moved to the safest point.

This fight was more difficult than Edward had thought it would be. He seemed to be able to handle her easily in the book and that was with him being distracted trying to protect Bella... there was none of that now, but he was finding it hard to get his hands on her. Then he thought, perhaps she had been distracted that day too, and was trying to think of something to get her off balance... giving her less time to react.

"I'm just wondering why you chose to be part of this little coven," Edward said, right now grasping at straws until he could hear something in her head that will help him figure out what to do. "I can see that you can be quite evasive... but you don't have much in the ways of fighting skills."

Victoria hissed at that; thoughts of her many conquests flooding her brain, but still when Edward attacked she dodged him easily, going on a counter attack, but pulling up short... her instincts telling her that it wouldn't be a smart move.

"I suppose James just likes having easy access to a woman..." Edward said, loathing using this excuse a little, but he didn't care in the end if it helped him win.

It didn't help though, she was confident in her attractions to James, she was in love with him and that wasn't going to change. It was rather stupid of him to say that, but he had recalled saying something to that effect in the book and having it work... but that was a different situation, James was already dead then.

"You were right you know," Edward said in a softly, pleasing voice, "to run from us. I bet he didn't listen to you when you told him this wasn't a good idea. He likes to challenges... but you knew this wasn't a challenge he should take."

Victoria's eyes narrowed at him a snarl coming from her.

"And now... my brother Jasper is going to kill him... all because he didn't listen to you," Edward said.

"James won't lose," Victoria said, her voice was high, and filled with hate (and more than a little admiration for James).

"Hm... well maybe not, but it looks like he has already lost an arm," Edward said.

Victoria's eyes flickered towards James then and saw clearly that he had lost an arm and what was worse; there was an ominous black cloud of smoke near the girl with spiky hair. She was only a sixteenth of a second slower to move, but that was enough for Edward to cause a blow that sent her flying into a tree... though he didn't get a hold of her like he wanted or cause any real damage.

"I don't really like James' chances," Edward continued with his strategy. "My brother is hard enough to beat with both arms..."

Victoria didn't say anything; her cold red eyes were glaring at him and he could see in her mind that she had recommitted herself to this fight... again pulling on her confidence in James. He didn't try to distract her again, she wasn't giving him anything to use against her and the way he had used before wasn't going to work. So, instead he used his considerable speed to try to get around her ability. It was a long fight, and he had to work for every hit he got in, but he was definitely winning, she had barely scratched him, but he had hit her many times.

And then they heard it, the sound that was so piercing it could only mean one thing; on vampire was tearing off a limp of other. Victoria looked, she couldn't stop herself from looking, and Edward looked through her eyes watching as James landed on the floor no longer complete. Edward moved swiftly, almost feeling that he was giving Victoria a little mercy... she was so shocked and numb by the loss of James that she didn't even register his approach. There was another loud screeching sound and the vampires that had caused them so much trouble in the book's future were gone... Well, at least two of them were. There were still a lot of vampires that they would have to consider their enemies.

Edward didn't really spend time thinking about that at first; because he was setting the pieces of Victoria on fire quickly, hoping she was beyond pain now. As he watched the pieces burn he felt the same guilt he did whenever he had killed a human monster. He knew this was the right thing, James wasn't just a normal hunter, he enjoyed stalking his victims, play with them beforehand. He had seen that in his mind, just flashes of some of the things he had done, but that didn't make this any easier to watch Victoria burn. Was she really a monster? Or was her only crime being the mate of James? Sure she had started a Newborn army to try and kill his family in the other reality (and she was too much of a risk to keep alive in this reality) but would he not do the same thing to avenge his love... or would he even have the energy to avenge his love at all...

 _It doesn't matter_ , he told himself as he turned his back to the fire and went to join the others. James had to die and so did Victoria, and even if that made him feel guilty he wasn't going to let that change anything because he knew that Bella was safe now.


	3. Laurent's Decision

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or any of the characters.**

 **A/N: Thanks to Sunray16 and Angelinia who beta this story.**

Chapter Forty Two

Laurent's Decision

Emmett ran after Edward the second he took off, as he had readied himself to go the moment Edward moved. Edward, however, quickly started pulling away from him, running faster than Emmett had ever seen him go. Not to be outdone, Emmett pushed himself to his limit too, and was in the clearing soon after that.

He made his way straight toward Laurent. He could see that the dark haired vampire was running at Edward, trying to give Victoria a hand. There was no way that he was going to get there in time but he didn't really need to as he ducked down and picked up a rock the size of a volleyball and flung it at Laurent with such force that it caused the other vampire a considerable loss of momentum in his leap. It was enough so that Emmett could cover Edward's back.

"Sorry, but I'm your opponent today," Emmett smiled.

Laurent looked at him, there was no conflict in his eyes; he just slid down into a crouch and prepared for the fight.

"Well, that is, only if you want to have this fight," Emmett said seriously but hoping Laurent was going to put up a little fight before all was said and done.

"What do you mean?" Laurent asked his voice tense. He didn't loosen his posture one bit as he looked for any weakness he could find in Emmett.

"That we don't have to fight if you don't want to," Emmett said. "We came here to... _talk_ to James... we heard something about him... but that doesn't make you our enemy."

"You're attacking my coven... of course you're my enemy," Laurent scoffed and with that he launched at Emmett. Emmett didn't even attempt to move, he just let Laurent come, seeing that the other vampire wasn't going to try and bite him. Laurent slammed into him with everything he had, but Emmett stood his ground. Laurent turned around looking at him shocked, and gritted his teeth ready to attack again.

"Seriously man, we don't have to be enemies," Emmett said. "Don't you want a change from the life that you've been living?"

"What... are you trying to sell me on converting to drink animal blood, you yellow-eyed freak?" Laurent said.

Emmett glared at Laurent, forgetting for a moment about his campaign to try to make Laurent see reason and charged at him. It was a straight forward attack but Emmett moved quicker than it looked possible for him to move, and the punch sent Laurent flying past several trees.

Laurent got up, dusting the tree fragments off as he glared at Emmett. There was more than a little fear in his eyes, but there was also plenty of anger and defiance too.

"Sorry, I just don't like being called a freak," Emmett said, trying to stop himself from being too angry. "And you might find that our life style has helped us in more than one way."

"Save your breath," Laurent said. "I'm not going to let you distract me..."

Emmett chuckled then, and rolled his eyes, which was a mistake since Laurent chose that moment to attack. This time Emmett couldn't just stand there, because it was clear the other vampire was out to cause some serious damage. However, Emmett was able to deflect the blows that were coming at him easily enough, though a few minor hits did get past him.

Finally, Emmett groaned in frustration and pushed Laurent away and quickly hit him with a counter attack. After only a few hits, one where he knew he could easily have ripped the other vampire's head off if that was what he was going for, Emmett backed off. He was a little disappointed in this fight. It was clear that Laurent was only an average fighter and it was more fun having the mock fights with Jasper and Edward.

"I'm not distracting you, I'm giving you a chance to save yourself," Emmett hissed at him in his frustration.

"Why would you do that?" Laurent looked at him, fear now the most apparent feature in his face; he hadn't missed that Emmett could have killed him. However, his glance went to where James and Jasper were still fighting and then to Victoria and Edward and there was another kind of fear there. If he stopped fighting, in a sense forsaking his own coven, and James and/or Victoria survived, that would not be good. They would not forget or forgive him for that...

Yet, as he stared into his opponent's yellow eyes he was actually unsure of who was going to win this conflict. Before the fight there was no doubt in his mind, James would win and they would continue their hunt. Now however, he had seen how strong this guy in front of him was. In strength alone he surpassed any vampire he had ever met and that even though he was a straight forward fighter it was clear he was skilled in that facet, too. Added to it was the fact that he had to believe that the other fighters were better than Emmett was, or at least the Jasper guy was, because they had to know that James was the most dangerous of their fighters. They were here to kill him after all.

"Because we don't like killing if we don't have to," Emmett said. "The fact that we don't even kill humans should prove that to you."

Laurent looked at him more shocked than ever, but there was something to what Emmett was saying. "But why do you care so much about... humans?"

"Because our fa... leader doesn't believe in hurting anyone," Emmett said. "At least that's why I did it at first..."

"Your leader... is that the blonde..." Laurent asked.

"No... but Carlisle has blonde hair, too," Emmett chuckled. "There're seven in our coven total."

"Seven?" Laurent exclaimed. "How do you all live together?"

"It's another benefit of only drinking animal blood," Emmett said. "Or at least we think it is. We've found another coven out there and they have five members in their family..."

"Family?" Laurent questioned.

"Yeah," Emmett shrugged. "We think of ourselves as family. I love my siblings..." he said waving his arm to indicate the other vampires in the clearing, though he didn't take his eyes off of Laurent, "almost as much as I love my mate, Rose."

"That's what you gain from drinking animal blood," Laurent tilted his head to the side. Throughout this conversation the tension between the two had relaxed with each passing second, however they were both on guard; there was definitely no trust between them as of yet. Or more like Emmett couldn't trust Laurent, for Laurent had already realized that he was never going to beat Emmett in a fair fight.

"A stable home and people who you love to come home to," Emmett said. "That's enough for me."

"Hm... I could sort of see your point," Laurent said, though after he said it his eyes darted to the other two vampires in his coven... they were still fighting, but that was all he had time to look for, because his instincts kicked in and he had to look back at Emmett. He added in haste, as if to deny that he ever even considered this, "but it seems like a big sacrifice to make if you don't have a mate..."

"Oh," Emmett said, his month twitching finding that an amusing excuse... it might be easier than he thought to make Laurent come to Denali, but still, he had a feeling that the other fights were going to be over soon and he needed to get Laurent's answer before that happened. If he agreed after the others were killed (and of course Emmett was sure his brothers would win) then how were they supposed to know why he made his choice?

"It would be hard to live eternity without human blood..." Laurent shook his head.

"Did I mention that the other family I know has three single women in it," Emmett said waggling his eyebrows.

Laurent looked up and his expression was more curious than before. The pull to listen to this guy was becoming stronger. What he was offering was becoming better. But could he really believe this was true? He was growing tired of the hunt... he knew he wouldn't fit in with James much longer, the constant games weren't really his style. Still, not hunting at all... No, he couldn't do that. He thought about how animals smelled and the thought almost made him gag. They must taste even worse. And yet, meeting some... meeting his mate... wouldn't that be worth trying that for? But that was too much to hope for. Just because there were three vampires at this other coven - no family - didn't mean that he would like any of them.

"It's up to you, man," Emmett said. "But this is your last chance... it's now or never."

Laurent looked at him, thinking about not having to live in rags, something he'd had to do for nearly three hundred years. Having people he actually cared about... not just people that he was with for convenience. This was something that he had sought for awhile now...

"Fine, I give in," Laurent said lowering his guard completely.

Emmett sprang at him then, causing Laurent's eyes to widened in total fear, but Emmett landed behind him and slapped his back as hard as he could, causing the other vampire to land on the floor.

"Sorry," Emmett chuckled, "but you made the right choice... see."

At that Laurent got up grumbling and for the first time he was really able to see the other two fights going on. First he noticed James attacking Jasper, but his movements where a lot more desperate than he had ever seen before. Then he noticed Victoria and Edward, and saw that she was struggling just as much as James was.

The sound that could only mean that one vampire was tearing another vampire apart was heard from where James and Jasper were fighting and Laurent looked to see that James had been defeated. It was unbelievable... and the relief that had come with this was overwhelming. He had made the right decision after all. Then there was that same sound again, this time coming from where the other fight was and when he looked this time he knew what he would see. More relief hit him, he wasn't going to be in danger now... at least if these strange yellow eyes didn't change their minds. However, he felt a pang of remorse. He had travelled with these two vampires for many years now, and watching them get killed was hard.

They stayed where they were as the other two vampires burned, Laurent lost in his thoughts and in some ways, grief, for them. It wasn't strong; he would miss them, but he could move on easily enough. He grimaced at that - how interchangeable his companions had always been. Perhaps he really did want what these yellow eyes had.

"I see you have chosen," Edward said stiffly, looking at Laurent with a murderous glare.

Laurent tensed immediately.

 _Edward,_ _stop, his mind is made up to give our way of living a real chance, but with that look... it's not helping,_ Alice thought.

"Yeah, Eddy boy," Emmett said wrapping his arm around Edward, chuckling at the face that Edward was making. "So relax a little." _You promised Carlisle you would give him the choice so now you have to live with the fact that he chose this._

"Emmett," Edward hissed at him, taking his frustration out on his brother by taking Emmett's arm off him and twisting it behind Emmett's back in what would have been a painful way if he had been human (it was just mildly annoying to Emmett right now). "Never tell me to relax."

"Cool down a little, then," Emmett said, chuckling as Edward groaned, pushing him away.

"Idiot," Edward muttered.

Jasper walked towards them then, with Alice standing next to him, her expression hard to read, but Edward could hear her annoyance. She didn't really like that she didn't get to do anything today, all because Jasper was an overprotective idiot.

Jasper looked over Laurent with the same look that Edward had, honestly thinking that it was best to just kill this vampire... that way there would be no danger in the future. Edward reluctantly shook his head and Jasper sighed.

"Em, Edward, I think we should take Laurent to Denali," Jasper said, in a stiff tone.

"Er... come on Laurent, let's get going," Emmett said, picking up the black haired vampire.

"Do I have a choice?" Laurent asked.

"No, not really," Emmett said. "I think Jasper will kill you if you stay here much longer... he was a Southerner before and..."

Laurent eyes widened and Edward smirked inwardly at the wave of panic that went through Laurent. He envisioned Jasper stalking him, making sure there were no loose ends.

"Let's go," Edward said and the three of them left.

"So am I your captive now?" Laurent asked as they ran.

"Not really," Emmett shrugged. "I thought you wanted to meet the others..."

"I do... I just don't like feeling like I'm forced to," Laurent said.

"Sorry, we thought that we might as well go with you to see them, too," Emmett said. "It's been a few years since the last time we saw them and since it's during a school break..."

"School! You go to school!" Laurent said.

"Yeah, the younger we start at in a town the longer we can stay there," Emmett explained. "You're lucky that you don't look young enough to go to school... it's utter torture going there."

"And you choose to go through that," Laurent said. "The benefits really must be worth it."

"They are," Emmett laughed.

Laurent kept on asking questions and Emmett gave him all the answers he could. Edward monitored Laurent thoughts, but all he could hear was curiosity and more questions that he was going to ask. Edward frowned; it looked like he was going to have to stay close to Laurent for awhile if he was going to make sure he was okay, but of course once they came to Denali Laurent was going to know about his ability so it would be even more difficult for him then.

They ran all the way to Denali and were there before the sun rose. It was odd to think that it had only been a day since they had finished reading the books. That it hadn't even been a full week since he found them and his life had changed forever.

"Emmett... Edward! What are you doing here?" Kate asked when she opened the door before they were able to knock.

"What, we're not allowed to come and visit our extended family every once in a while?" Emmett grinned and rubbed the top of her head. The shock she gave him wasn't enough to knock him to the floor, but it did make him jerk his hand away.

"Hello, Kate," Edward smiled and she smiled back and when he noticed her curious look towards Laurent, with an appreciating look, he said, "this is Laurent."

"Hello," Kate said batting her eyelashes.

"Hello," Laurent said, giving her a smile, _I really might like it here, she is quite exquisite._

Edward frowned at this, though not so either Kate or Laurent could see him. He didn't like how this was going so far. If Laurent liked Kate perhaps he wasn't really Irina's mate.

 _Hm… they look like they're hitting it off,_ Emmett's thoughts were mirroring Edward's. Y _ou only get one mate right... but what if you meet them at the wrong time or you meet someone else... can your mate change if the future was different than what it was suppose to be? Man that would suck... Garrett is so much cooler than Laurent... a much better fighter. I would rather he be part of the extended family. Though I guess he could still be Irina's… or Tanya's mate._

Edward didn't like the deep question that Emmett had brought up. What if by changing the future like this, they were changing more than just his and Bella's life?

 _Hey_ , Kate shouted in her thoughts. _What's on your mind... and what's with this new guy?_

"Um... it's a long story," Edward said. "I think we should wait for the others to get here. When will they be back?" Edward then nodded his head.

"What?" Laurent said looking between them, and now looking at Edward suspiciously.

"Yes, I can read minds," Edward said as the thought had gone though Laurent's mind. "You don't blame me for keeping that a secret do you? I wasn't sure if I could trust you."

"I suppose I can't," Laurent said, _and you still don't trust me, you just know you can't keep your ability a secret anymore._

"True," Edward admitted.

"Um... when will the others be back?" Emmett asked.

"Not long... less than an hour I would think," Kate said. "I guess you couldn't hear it when I told Edward..."

Emmett glared at Kate as she chuckled at him.

The others all came in about twenty minutes later, all looking happy to see Emmett and Edward and curious about the new guy. Eleazar looked Laurent over closely, scanning for any abilities he might have and not finding any. He noticed the rigid - though trying to look relaxed - stance that Edward and even Emmett had and was curious about that.

 _Is he dangerous?_ Eleazar asked Edward.

"I think it's time we tell you what happened today," Edward said in a way to answer. So Edward told them the story... starting with the fact that James had hunted Alice.

"I can't believe it!" Tanya said.

"Alice was in an Asylum when she was a human," Irina said sadly, but her eyes keep flickering toward Laurent, as if she didn't have control over them.

"Why didn't you come to us sooner?" Kate said hotly, _I for one would have liked_ _to have given you a_ hand _for what they did._

"That wouldn't have helped," Laurent said, "Victoria already knew that you were after... us... she would have only have been more convinced with more of you there. She wouldn't have let James stop."

Laurent was now looking at Irina; he couldn't believe that this was really happening. His day had started out with its normal routine; he had hunted with the others. Then out of nowhere, they'd had to run for their existence. Now his other two companions were dead and he was standing in the living room of a beautiful house that belonged to vampires and he was quite taken by the blonde vampire in front of him. He couldn't seem to be able to take his eyes off of her and he was rather looking forward to spending time here.

"And you're part of this guy's coven," Kate said narrowing her eyes at Laurent. "And you're all right to be buddy buddy with the guys who killed your leader?"

"I'm not sure about that," Laurent said, cautiously, for the two vampires were in the room looking at him. "I get the feeling that they will kill me if I say the wrong thing."

"I meant you don't even care about the others being killed," Kate hissed.

"I'm not used to caring about anyone... or having anyone care about me," Laurent said. "I have travelled with others at times because it gets lonely to always go around by myself... but I've made few bonds with others."

"That's sounds so sad," Irina said. "We always had a family... though we couldn't always live together in peace like we do now."

"Really... how did..." Laurent started to ask, smiling at her.

 _I still don't see why you would have left this vampire alive after what he_ _did... he might cause you trouble later on,_ Eleazar thought.

"Carlisle," Edward said, "he didn't want us to hurt anyone that we didn't have to."

"Mmm..." Eleazar said smiling; _he would say something like that. It's still dangerous, though._

Edward nodded his head, he knew that all too well, and it was more dangerous than Eleazar would ever be able to guess.

"Honestly, I don't see how you even talked Carlisle into allowing you to go in the first place," Tanya said, furrowing her eyebrows. She quite agreed with the Cullens' reactions to this, but she knew that Carlisle never would have.

"Jasper can be quite persuasive when he wants to be," Edward said, and Emmett chuckled at his pun as Kate and Tanya rolled their eyes. "Especially when it comes to Alice," he went on in a more serious voice.

"Oh," everyone else said, and all the worries and suspicion that were starting to buzz in their heads vanished. There was one good thing about Jasper's military background and over-protectiveness; it was quite easy to convince people that this was the only reason that they could have had to go after James' coven.

"If I were you, I wouldn't go anywhere near Forks for a long time," Kate said to Laurent. "Jasper won't be forgetting whose coven you were in for a long time."

"I'll keep that in mind," Laurent said looking terrified.

 _Well, Eddy, it looks like the Denalis_ _are doing our job for us,_ Emmett thought and Edward grimaced. _I know... I know, you still don't trust him, but we'll have Alice watching his every move. Still, he looks_ _like he likes the right sister now, and everything should be okay. Anyways, with the way things are now, I think I could be heading home soon... I want to get back to Rose._

"I'm sure he'll get over it... in five years or so," Tanya teased Laurent, though her thoughts were very protective, she could see the looks that Laurent and Irina were giving each other and had a feeling what was going on between them. Part of her was envious of this, but the other part was wary of this new vampire and she wasn't sure if he could really take to their life style. _I'll have to keep my eye on this one._

Edward smiled at that; this meeting had gone better than he could have hoped. He wasn't even close to trusting Laurent, but at least he knew that there would be someone to watch over him. He was confident enough here to let Emmett go home to see Rose, but he was going to have to stay here for a while longer. He had to make sure Laurent was really safe - besides, he knew that he would probably go mad being back home where all he would be able to do was obsess over Bella until he was finally able to meet her... in twenty-three days.

 **A/N: Okay, so Laurent lives. More people had said they wanted him to live so whatever. I know some of you think that he's a loose cannon, but honestly I don't really see him coming back into the story...**

 **I really had no idea that I was going to have Emmett, Edward and Laurent come to Denali until I got to writing this story, but it just felt right having that in here. And now there is going to be one more chapter for this story before I start a different story... which I don't know what I'm going to call yet (I was thinking Meeting Destiny and one of my beta suggested Confronting Fate... what do you think?). The next chapter will have Alice and Jasper and other things in it... well until next week (or in two days if you're reading 'Reading Midnight Sun').**


	4. The Author

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or any of the characters.**

 **A/N: Thanks to Sunray16 and Angelinia who beta this story.**

Chapter Forty-Three

The Author

Jasper watched as Edward, Emmett and Laurent left, still quite wary about letting the vampire go.

"You promised, Jazz," Alice reminded him, not needing Edward's ability to read his mind.

"I know," Jasper turned to her with a grin, the one he always had when she, in a sense, had read his mind. However, the grin fell when he saw how angry she was. To be more precise, she had let herself feel as angry as she was at the moment.

"You didn't let me fight at all," Alice said to him, her eyes narrowed.

"I know," Jasper said. "I couldn't… not with this guy..."

"Hmph," Alice said.

"I'm actually surprised that you didn't come and join me in the fight," Jasper muttered, there really wasn't anything he could say to her about the other issue. He knew that she hated it when he protected her from things that she deemed to be not dangerous to her. However, he also knew that he was never going to stop protecting her... because without her, he had nothing.

"I saw that you were the only one that would have been hurt if I tried anything," Alice hissed at him bitterly. "How am I supposed to fight if I know you're going to get hurt?"

"Alice," Jasper sighed, wrapping her in his arms. He was filled with sorrow, a little guilt (that he didn't let her resolve her issues with James) and overwhelming happiness. He didn't let any of these feeling leak out to her, never wanting to influence her when they had an argument (the very few times that they ever have had an argument). "I am sorry."

"I know, Jazz," Alice sighed, she didn't need his influence to make her melt, she could never stay angry with him for long. Especially, she had to admit to herself, because of his overprotective nature, she loved that side of him too much. "But you're still going to have to make this up to me."

Jasper chuckled at that; he loved making things up to her. "If I must."

"Well, we better get going," Alice said, and started running southeast.

Jasper raised an eyebrow as she ran away; she wasn't heading home. He quickly caught up to her, but didn't ask his questions, he didn't need to.

"I wanted to talk to the author... Stephenie Meyer... I thought now would be the best time," Alice said.

"Alright," Jasper smiled at her. "Do you want me to go with you?"

"Actually... I would like to talk to her alone," Alice said.

"Of course you will," Jasper smiled at her. "You don't having any schemes up your sleeve, do you?"

"I'm not wearing any sleeves," Alice said innocently, pleased that she had seen that it was going to be sunny when they got off the plane early this morning.

Jasper rolled his eyes and smiled at her. They ran most the way in silence, and it really didn't take them long to reach the small town, though they had to wait in the shadows for an hour before the sun went down. At twilight, thinking this was a fitting time to meet the author, Alice went to the house that was indicated in the note that had been in the book and knocked on the door.

"Yes... I'm sorry..." a woman started saying, but the thoughts of apologizing for the wait died as she looked at the person in front of her. Her eyes went wide and she said in barely a whisper, "Alice?"

Alice smiled at her, "I'm just as I looked in your head I suppose."

Her eyes widened farther and the woman nodded her head slowly.

"I guess you weren't expecting me to just show up on your doorstep one day," Alice chuckled.

"I... just..." the woman swallowed hard. "I sent the books less than two weeks ago..."

"We're read fast," Alice shrugged.

The woman laughed at that, seeming to snap out of her shock a little. "You do everything fast."

Alice laughed too.

"Why don't you come in?" the woman said. "I'm all alone at the moment, but I'm sure my family will be getting home soon."

"Oh," Alice said, coming in house and looking around.

"I really wasn't expecting you to just show up... but I suppose I should have," the woman said. "I'm Stephenie, by the way, as I'm sure you have figured out."

"Yes, but I knew that long before I got here," Alice smiled and Stephenie smiled back realizing quickly that Alice was talking about a vision she saw of her.

"I suppose this means this really is all real," Stephenie said sitting down on the couch, looking very relieved. "I'm just really glad I didn't give this to a publisher... that would have been disastrous."

"We're all glad you didn't do that," Alice agreed, sitting across from Stephenie, acting human even thought she needn't have bothered, seeing as she already knew what Alice was, it just seemed natural for her to do that.

"So how did the reading go..." Stephenie asked, excitedly. "Was it difficult to read... was it interesting... are you going to change anything that happened... or everything...

Alice chuckled at the many questions Stephenie seemed to have for her.

"I sorry," Stephenie said smiling sheepishly at her. "I have just been thinking about this for the last two weeks. I sent the books to you, as I said in my letter, because I wanted to know if you all were real..." she looked at Alice with wide eyed wonderment, like she could hardly believe her eyes that she was really looking at her. "Once the books were gone though... I realized that you would read them... learn everything that I've... um... for lack of a better word, wrote."

"Therefore changing the future of everything that had been written," Alice smiled.

"Exactly," Stephenie said. "A part of me wished that somehow you wouldn't have read this... for at least I knew that in the book everything will work out in the end. I know Edward could never let _New Moon_ happen anyway, but I was just thinking that if you tried doing things the same as in the book, that he and you two, would have to touch Aro... he would know everything about the books then... So I supposed everything really has to change... I just hope I didn't do any damage here."

"Well, we did read them, and everything is going to change," Alice said, "but I can't see how this could be a bad thing, we all love Bella already..."

"You see... you might just scare her off, now," Stephenie said teasing, but worried, too.

"I promise we won't come on too strong," Alice chuckled.

"Somehow, I find that hard to believe," Stephenie said chuckling. "So, which was the hardest book to read?" she asked with a more serious tone now. "I would think _New Moon_ must have been hard... and _Breaking Dawn_... especially the Jacob book..."

"Yes, they were both difficult to read," Alice said. "And you should have seen Rosalie's face when she started reading Jacob's first chapter."

"I could image," Stephenie said, laughing at the image she had brought up.

"It was especially bad when you didn't even tell us about what was going to happen with the baby," Alice continued to laughed. "Why did you do it from Jacob perspective anyway?"

"I have no idea," Stephenie shrugged. "It's just what was there when I typed that part."

"You're going to have to explain that more to me," Alice said, raising her eyebrow, intrigued to learn more about this gift that Stephenie seemed to have.

"I don't really know how to explain it," Stephenie sighed with a thoughtful expression. "It was like a wave of tiredness would come over me and I would just have to sit down, or go to bed. I would always wake up in front of the computer screen, and there would be several pages written. When I read them, the images just filled my head and it seemed so real... I don't know." She started shaking her head, it still felt so crazy that something like that would happen, and yet, she had proof that it was all true sitting right here in front of her.

"Hm... I wonder what would happen if you became a vampire," Alice mused allowed.

"Oh... I don't want to become a vampire," Stephenie said shaking her head, looking almost scared.

Alice looked at her.

"Um... that's not to say that there's anything wrong with being a vampire," Stephenie added on hastily. "It's just that I've got everything I've ever wanted in life... A family I love, friends I enjoy spending time with... I don't need eternal life or beauty..."

"It's not for everyone," Alice shrugged, not mentioning the fact that she wasn't really offering to make the woman a vampire, she was just wondering how the power would evolve if Stephenie was a vampire. "Still, I feel like we should give you something... I know for a fact that your book would have sold millions of copies before... um... unfortunate things happened."

Stephenie shivered at how Alice phrased that.

"Here, take this," Alice said, handing her a slick credit card. "There should be more than enough."

"What... no, I can't take this," Stephenie said, shaking her head.

"We're all looking at these books as a guide to make our future better," Alice told her. "Making sure that we learn from the mistakes that were in these books... I'm sure it won't be as simple as all that, and we'll come to some difficult parts, but we are grateful for what you've done for our family. Please, just take it."

Stephenie took the credit card, knowing that Alice wouldn't take no for an answer. "Thanks."

"Oh, by the way, _Eclipse_ was the hardest book for us to read," Alice said.

"Really... but I thought Bella was in the least amount of danger there," Stephenie said, genuinely surprised. "Not to mention I thought most of you, Emmett in particular, would have found some of the chapter... amusing."

Alice laughed at that knowing what chapters she meant immediately. "Oh, we did."

"But I guess you didn't realize how hard it was for Edward to hear what Bella was thinking," Alice went on with a more serious tone. "You know... after Jacob's second kiss..."

"Oh," Stephenie's eyes went wide, a sudden understanding coming into them. "I never thought of that... I didn't think to look at the book from his perspective before..."

"Edward almost decided never to meet Bella at that point," Alice said truthfully. "He thought if he took himself out of the equation, that she could have a happy life without him in it to disturb her."

"But he changed his mind, right?" Stephenie asked, devastated.

"Yes... or I should say Renesmee, changed it for him," Alice smiled. "Knowing that he could have a family with Bella... I don't think we'll see any trouble out of him... but for a while... he was dead set on never meeting her and wasn't even sure if he wanted to read the last book."

"I'm so sorry..." Stephenie sighed.

"It's fine... everything worked out in the end," Alice shrugged.

"Right," Stephenie giving her a weak smile.

"By the way, I was just wondering why you had something on the back of the first book, but there wasn't anything on the back of the other books that you gave to us," Alice questioned, for she had looked the books over closely after they had finished reading them and had noticed that they had obviously been cheaply bound, in a way that suggested that there weren't many copies made.

"Oh," Stephenie laughed, and smiled at Alice in a knowing way. "Well, I was hoping by putting in ' **About three things I was absolutely positive. First, Edward was a vampire. Second, there was a** **part of him — and I didn't know how potent that part might be — that thirsted for my blood. And third, I was unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him.'** That it would make you all want to read this... I was sure it would have piqued the interest in anyone that read that. By the way, which one of you did read that?"

"I did," Alice laughed.

"I was hoping it would be you," Stephenie laughed. "You're the best at keeping things from Edward when you want to... And you did, didn't you?"

"Of course," Alice laughed even harder. "You should have seen him as he slowly realized what was going on... He was so cute."

"Oh... I wish I was there," Stephenie sighed.

Alice looked at the door then, hearing a car coming, and she was sure that it was Stephenie's family. "I should be going..."

"So soon…" Stephenie frowned.

"It sounds as if your family is almost home... and you know the fewer people that know about us... the better," Alice said.

"I understand," Stephenie sighed. "I hope you'll let me know how this all ends though... in this new future you're going to be creating."

"I'll be sure to drop by here again," Alice smiled at her. "Though I don't think that will be for a few year."

"Oh well, maybe I'll see what happens anyways," Stephenie said and Alice was gone.

"So, how did it go?" Jasper asked when Alice came running up to him, he needn't have asked really, he could feel that she was pleased by this meeting.

"Good," Alice said.

"So what now?" Jasper asked, feeling her normal impatience when she was about to start one of her plans... one that was proving to be more difficult than she had thought it would be.

"Sh..." Alice said, her eyes were blank and she was obviously looking for something. "Where is he?"

"Who?" Jasper asked softly, it was some time later, and he had watched her patiently, sending his patience at her too, seeing as she was starting to get really irritated the longer she stood there. He didn't mind that they had been there for nearly five hours, sitting there watching her was enough for him. However, Alice seemed to be really impatient now.

"Garrett," Alice answered. "I thought that seeing as we were sending Laurent to our cousin, we really should find Garrett, too. But I can't see him anywhere."

"Do you really think that would be a good idea?" Jasper asked. "Wouldn't it make it more suspicious..."

"Laurent would more likely keep to our lifestyle choice if he had someone that was doing the same thing alongside him," Alice shrugged.

"Don't give me that," Jasper rolled his eyes. "You just liked the idea of being little miss matchmaker."

"Maybe," Alice giggled.

"But you can't find him," Jasper said.

"Argh, don't remind me," Alice groaned. "He hasn't made one choice that I could tell for five hours... not one."

"Hm..." Jasper hummed thoughtfully.

"What?" Alice said impatiently when he didn't voice his thoughts. _She could be more impatient the Emmett at times like this,_ Jasper thought, smiling smugly inside.

"I just thought that Garrett didn't really strike me of someone that really decides to do anything," Jasper said. "I mean, he sort of just goes with the flow... up to any challenge that he meets, but doesn't really decide to do anything... go anywhere specifically."

"He just follows the path he's on until it's at its end," Alice groaned.

"Maybe," Jasper shrugged.

"Well, that's just annoying," Alice huffed.

"You'll have to tell him that when we do see him," Jasper chuckled.

"But when will that be?" Alice groaned, "It didn't even say where he was in Breaking Dawn, it just said that Rose and Em had found him and told him to come with us."

"Well, I suppose we could scour the nation looking for him the old fashion way," Jasper shrugged.

"No, we can't do that. It would look odd if we're looking for him for no apparent reason," Alice sighed. "Besides, we have to get home soon... you have human closeness lessons that you have to take from Carlisle."

"Right," Jasper bowed his head.

"I'm sorry," Alice was next to him in a moment, her eyes peering into his in the way that was more intimate then any embrace. "I didn't mean..."

"I know," Jasper said, "I was just thinking about... why I promised everyone I would do this... Alice what if I hurt her..."

"You won't, Jazz," Alice said softly, putting a comforting hand on his, a gesture he always does to calm her down... though his touch has an extra power behind it never ceased to amaze him how much this action by her always seemed to affect him.

"I was worried all day about what Laurent might do... what danger he poses to our family," Jasper said, having to say this, having to get this off his chest. Alice frowned at him, she was confident that he would never do that, and he smiled at the confidence, vowing to live up to it, but still he had to say this all now. That was why she didn't interrupt him... she knew what he needed. "But he won't be near us... Me on the other hand... I'm going to be right there... if something happened..."

"I know," Alice said, touching his face when he could no longer talk. "And that's why I know you're not going to do anything to hurt her. Why you're going to get as much help from Carlisle as you can take."

Jasper sighed, tension leaving him in the overwhelming confidence she had in him.

"Let's go home," Alice said then and the two of them turned toward Forks and rushed home.

O

She was looking at the bank statement that she had just gotten. She had decided to use the bank card that Alice had given her, wanting to know just how much was on it... her curiosity having gotten the better of her. She can't say that this was totally unexpected, after all she knew better than any other mortal she imagined, how little value money had to the Cullens. Still... this was unbelievable! Well she would certainly never have to worry about wanting anything in the future... nor would her kids... or their kids...

Hm… still, there was something that she could do to say thank you for this very generous gift, even if Alice wouldn't have considered this to be a generous gift. For last night she had another one of her type-sleeping episodes, as her husband liked to call them, and was highly intrigued when she found what she had written. It was Twilight, from Edward's point of view. Almost a chapter was done... and it was an enlightening read. She could definitely see more clearly into Edward's mind than she had before. Yes, Alice would definitely like to see this, she thought to herself, and of course she was going to have to wait a while before she got to the finish off this book.

Then it hit her, this book wasn't for the Cullens. No, this book didn't pop into her head so she could give it to them. This book was for Bella... she had the right to understand what was going on, too, didn't she? She had as much right to hear what Edward was thinking as Edward had to hear what Bella was thinking after all. She shivered though, would it really be right to send a book like this to Bella when Edward's first thoughts of her was that he was going to kill her? No… that wouldn't be right, but Bella still deserved to know.

It was a few weeks later, and she had written six chapter of _Midnight Sun_ , as the book had seemed to have titled itself just like the other books had. The more she read what she had written, the more she could see that Bella really need to see this book. She never would have thought about giving this book to a normal human girl... they never would have understood, but she knew Bella would. She knew that Bella would be able to look past Edward's first thoughts... to see that he wasn't the monster that he, himself, believes he is. She supposed this insight into Bella's character could only have come from the long months she had almost been living through Bella's life... in Bella's mind.

Ah... but the trouble was, there was so much in this book that wasn't believable... that Bella would resist believing. Wouldn't she? Hm… she wasn't sure about that or not. Bella was a reasonable person… would she believe in mind readers, really physics, and well... vampires in general? That one was harder for her to believe Bella would do. But how to make this all more real to her? Ah... Jacob Black. The kid has no idea his legends are real, but he would have heard of them... he would have a link to that reality that neither one of them could deny... right?

Well, here goes nothing, she thought as she sent her second package to Forks... er, well this one went to La Push and the last one went to just outside of the small town's borders, but that was close enough. She had booked all the flights heading out from Phoenix to Seattle, and thanks to Alice, that was no trouble for her, though she felt a strange giddiness doing something like she was someone rich and powerful. She had just sent the manuscript she had been working on for the last seventeen days. Though it only had twelve chapters in it, it was all she could do before it was time for Bella to start school.

She hoped that Jacob would follow the note, and that he wouldn't read without Bella. She had to bank on Jacob being the boy she remembered in _Twilight_... that didn't believe the legends, and therefore would be more understanding. He didn't have as much reason to hate Edward and the other Cullens, though she cringed at the thought of the first chapter... Well, she was sure that this was going to end up being interesting for them... and now it was time to go back to her normal life... she seriously was hoping that she would have a break from her type-sleeping, though not for too long... she really wanted to know what was going to happen next.

 **A/N: Well this is it, the last chapter for this story, though I will post an author's note that will tell you when I will start the next story. I still don't know what to call it, and for those that haven't read my Reading Midnight Sun, I had added, Destiny's Sunrise and Rising Sun, as possible titles because they go more along with Meyer's theme. However, someone had suggested Blue Moon and I kind of like it. The reason they gave me was because Edward was associated with the moon (and Jacob was more about the Sun) and because the term once in a blue moon means a once in a life time event. Another suggested that I liked was Eternal Sunrise... I like the sun rise theme because the sunrise to me seems to mean that things are looking up... that anything could happen when the sun rises. Anyways, let me know what you think. And I'll have to pick a title soon.**

 **Oh, and I just want to make this clear, the Cullens didn't have anything to do with Bella getting the books early, they don't even know that she's in the town early because they were expecting everything to start as the books said they would. I like the idea that neither Bella nor Edward will know that the other had read a book about the other... I think it should make for an interesting first meeting.**

 **And now to the thanks to everyone that had reviewed this story, thank you so much;**


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